Dr. Phil delays episode with best friends of George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin's stepmom to Tuesday

Honey Boo Boo, Jessica Simpson and George Zimmerman's best friends are on TV: Must be time for a new season of daytime talk shows!

Fighting against high profile debuts from Katie Couric, Ricki Lake, Jeff Probst and Anderson Cooper, talk show king Dr. Phil McGraw was planning on presenting an interview today with best friends of George Zimmerman, the man about to go on trial for killing unarmed teen Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla.

But McGraw has delayed the show by one day, responding to programming delays caused by the U.S. Open. So that blockbuster show -- which also features Trayvon Martin's stepmother Alice Martin speaking up for the first time -- airs Tuesday (4 p.m. on WTSP-Ch. 10, locally).

Martin's father and mother, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, visit Dr. Phil on Friday, allowing McGraw to stretch public interest over this case throughout his show's first week in the new TV season.

Last year, McGraw opened his season with a grilling of Casey Anthony's parents George and Cindy Anthony, exposing that the husband and wife still seemed to disagree on whether their Orlando-area daughter had killed her 2-year-old daughter Caylee.

Given how much McGraw is relying on Florida crime stories to juice his talk show, perhaps he should just start filming all his episodes here.

See a preview and press release about the delay below:

Dr. Phil’s exclusive interview with Mark and Sondra Osterman that kicks off the 11th season of his number one-rated syndicated daytime talk show will now air Tuesday, September 11, 2012 (check local listings). The move was a result of the U.S. Open Men’s Final being played today because of rain delays in the tournament schedule. The Ostermans are best friends with George Zimmerman, the man charged with the second degree murder of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin. Also appearing in this emotionally charged episode is Martin’s stepmother who breaks her silence for the first time regarding the case.

On the night of February 26, 2012, Zimmerman, an off-duty neighborhood watchman, was driving through a gated community in Sanford, Florida, on his way to run an errand. Following a call to 9-1-1, Zimmerman left his vehicle and got into an altercation with the 17-year-old Martin, which ended with Zimmerman shooting Martin dead. It was Mark Osterman who had helped Zimmerman pick out the gun that he used in the shooting. Although he had not been charged with any crime following the incident, Zimmerman feared for his life and he and his wife sought refuge with the Ostermans for nearly a month. During the show, Dr. Phil drills down using his inimitable style of questioning to find out why the couple is so supportive of Zimmerman and whether they feel Zimmerman’s actions were justifiable acts of self-defense or if the neighborhood watchman went beyond his assigned duties and took the law into his own hands. “They feel like they have information that sheds dramatic light on what happened that fateful night,” said Dr. Phil. On April 11, 2012, Zimmerman was formally charged with the second degree murder of Trayvon Martin.

Alicia Martin, Trayvon’s stepmother, will also appear on the show, breaking her silence for the first time about that fateful night.